Steve Moore seeking $30 million more from Todd Bertuzzi, Vancouver Canucks in lawsuit

The Steve Moore-Todd Bertuzzi lawsuit that’s been hanging over the NHL for the past 10 years is coming to a head this summer.

And it just got $30 million more interesting.

Moore, who was originally suing Bertuzzi and the Vancouver Canucks for $38 million in damages, increased his demand to $68 million at a hearing on Wednesday. The now-35-year-old Moore never played another NHL game after being attacked from behind by Bertuzzi in a game on March 8, 2004.

Moore and his lawyers are estimating Moore would have made $35 million over his NHL career and will make the case he would have blossomed into a top-six forward. Moore’s lawyers will also argue he could have made upwards of $65 million in a post-hockey career in financial services.

Moore, a Harvard University graduate with an IQ of 138, applied to Harvard and Stanford business schools, but didn’t get in. A judge agreed to allow (Canucks lawyer Alan) D’Silva and Bertuzzi’s lawyers to question Moore for 45 minutes on Thursday about those business school applications.

D’Silva said he wants access to reference letters Moore provided to Stanford and Harvard, telling the court that one purported expert suggested Moore’s best career options after hockey included being a hoist operator, a farm labourer or a cook in a fast-food restaurant. The lawyer declined to elaborate after the hearing on his comments because he said he didn’t want to insult Moore.

“D’Silva’s comment was a serious distortion of the expert report and it’s false because the expert was not saying that Steve Moore should be a fast-food chef,” said Tim Danson, Moore’s lawyer.

Moore’s lawyers trying to prove he could have made a lot of money over a long NHL career; Bertuzzi’s and the Canucks’ lawyers trying to prove Moore wouldn’t have been that successful on, or off, the ice.